TCF Financial Corp.’s decision to close its branch in the TCF Tower in downtown Minneapolis is not related to its ongoing search for office space to house more than 1,000 TCF employees now located in the same complex, according to a company spokesman.

TCF hired Doug Fulton, a broker at Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq, early this year to help with its office space search. There’s been no decision for the office lease, said TCF spokesman Mark Goldman.

Sources familiar with the effort have said for the past few months that TCF will likely renew at its current location or relocate to less expensive space in Plymouth.

Goldman declined to comment on specifics, but he said the office space isn’t related to the branch consolidation.

The closure, along with TCF’s plans to shed 37 branches in the Chicago area, was prompted by TCF’s ongoing review of its branch portfolio and growth initiatives like online and mobile services.

Wayzata-based TCF, which leases about half of the 488,000-square-foot TCF Tower complex at 121 S. Eighth St., will repurpose the 5,000-square-foot, first-floor branch space for other bank purposes, Goldman said. The branch employees will shift Jan. 10 to TCF’s other downtown branch in IDS Center’s skyway level, according to a sign posted in the building.